Martin Roberts is hoping to bring some of the heritage of a community in the Welsh Glens back to life by investing £500,000 of his own money in a special project.
The TV presenter and property expert, 59, is planning a refurbishment of the local pub and holds the keys to the Hendrewen Hotel in Blaencwm at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley.
The owners of the popular village pub decided to close the business during lockdown and Martin snapped it up last year when he felt the community had “lost its heart”.
However, the developer admits the job is his “most worrying” yet and he says he has decided not to tell his wife Kirsty about his plans so she can’t talk him out of it.
The ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ frontman told WalesOnline: ‘I often act a bit on my gut and I may not always tell my wife because sometimes I feel like I’m at risk of being talked out of things because they seem stupid on the surface. I only mention it when it’s too late!
New beginnings: Martin Roberts, 59, is hoping to bring some of the heritage of a community in Welsh glens back to life by donating £500,000 of his own money to a special project (pictured in May last year)
“I’ve never managed a pub, I’ve never managed a restaurant and I’ve never managed a hotel, so, hey, what could go wrong?!”
Former I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! campmate is pouring a significant amount of his own money into the hotel and says he wants to turn the establishment into a “really funky and fun bar, restaurant and gastropub.”
He insists he will keep references to the area’s history and industrial heritage in the hotel building.
Martin also intends to open some additional accommodations nearby that will offer rooms with disabled and wheelchair access, as well as three-wheel mountain bikes.
Alongside the new accommodation, he plans to expand a restaurant and village shop that will cater to tourists visiting the area.
It comes after Martin spoke about giving himself a “second chance at life” following his near-death health scare last year when his heart, kidneys and liver failed.
The 58-year-old presenter was hospitalized in April with chest pains he mistook for long Covid, but was told he was suffering from pericardial effusion, which is a buildup of fluid in the structure around the heart.
He had to undergo emergency surgery and has now thanked the incredible medical team without whom he “wouldn’t be here”.
Development: The TV presenter and property expert is planning a refurbishment of the local pub and has the keys to the Hendrewen Hotel in Blaencwm at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley (pictured in May last year)
He told The Sun: “My heart gave out, my kidneys and liver were working at 30 per cent and my lungs were getting weaker. I should have been in the junkyard, so little inside me was working the way it was supposed to.
“It all seemed to be happening so quickly that I didn’t have time to panic. There was a whole team that saved my life.
“I remember asking the surgeon if he had ever killed anyone in this procedure and he told me he conceded a goal and had no intention of changing that for me.
“You saved my life and I will never be able to repay you. From the porters and cleaners to the surgeons, every single one of them deserves this nomination. I was given a second chance and I have no intention of wasting it.”
Martin suffered a pericardial effusion, which causes excess fluid to clog the sac surrounding the heart known as the pericardium.
Symptoms may include shortness of breath, chest pain, difficulty breathing, lightheadedness, or swelling in the abdomen or legs.
While the condition can be treated with medication, in severe cases, doctors may perform surgery to drain the excess fluid.
Martin told Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes he suffered from chest pains for several weeks but simply assumed it was due to a long Covid time and described his health scares in an earlier appearance This Morning.
Throwback: It comes after Martin opened up about giving himself a “second chance at life” after his near-death health scare last year when his heart, kidneys and liver failed
Pain: Martin was hospitalized in April last year with what he believed to be long-Covid chest pain, but had a pericardial effusion, which is a buildup of fluid in the structure around the heart
He said: “I was feeling a bit bad having been under the weather for a couple of weeks. I’ve had some chest infections over the past few years and asthma since childhood so I’m used to a fairly tight chest.
“As the Easter Bank Holiday weekend approached, it started to get really bad and I could barely walk without gasping for air.”
He added: “The confusing thing about it, it’s a bit of a red herring, is that it puts you on the breathing side of things, so don’t think it has anything to do with your heart.
“You think, ‘It must have something to do with my chest.’ Then it’s dangerous to play Google Doctor.
“It looked like these may have been the symptoms of long Covid – real lethargy, chest tightness, chest pain, difficulty breathing so pause it and pause it and until it was just after the bank holiday weekend started I started going insane when I put the letters the wrong way around, I said to Kirsty, “We need to go to the hospital.”
He continued: “There’s a sac around your heart and it was filling up with fluid, that’s called pericardial effusion, and that in turn is something called tapenade, which basically means this sac is squeezing the heart it’s around sits, so the heart isn’t. Can’t expand and therefore can’t pump, meaning all of your organs start to fail.
Grateful: He had to undergo emergency surgery and later thanked the incredible medical team without whom he ‘wouldn’t be here’
“When they got to me my kidneys were at 30 percent, my liver at 30 percent, my lungs weren’t getting oxygen and I could have had a heart attack at any time…. The heart would have been strangled by itself.’
Martin added, “We’re talking minutes, hours and hours of life here.”
When asked what was going through his mind, Martin said: “You just put your life in the hands of professionals. I’m lying there in the special cardiac drainage ward – there’s a special operating room and there’s local anesthesia.
“I watch them put a tube in the side of your heart and then with a big syringe he starts pulling this dark red/black liquid that almost, I call death liquid, pulls out and squirts into a plastic cup, pulls another and squirts him in and I was just watching…”
What is a pericardial effusion?
A pericardial effusion causes excess fluid to clog the sac surrounding the heart called the pericardium.
If the sac around the heart is diseased or injured, the inflammation can lead to excess fluid.
Fluid can also build up around the heart without inflammation, e.g. B. by bleeding.
Symptoms may include shortness of breath, chest pain, difficulty breathing, lightheadedness, or swelling in the abdomen or legs.
While the condition can be treated with medication, in severe cases, doctors may perform surgery to drain the excess fluid.